ISO plant recommendation

Hey friends, I need some gardening advice ASAP.  So, this is the planter where Mr. Pickles found the EVILLL poison ivy.

kindly ignore the giant watering pillar of ugliness

Living as we do in a state that gets, on average, 10 inches of rain in the summer, keeping the weeds at bay is exactly like shoveling while it's still snowing.  It's a hopeless and demoralizing task.  (90% of that green stuff in the picture above shouldn't be there.)  The only way to have any kind of chance of keeping ahead at least is to crowd 'em out with intentional plants!

So... what should I plant there?

Japanese maple behind it, new sandbox to the left, dying bleeding heart to the far left

It's in the backyard, so it gets very little sun thanks to the giant tulip poplars behind us.  (which are lovely in the summer -- keep the back much cooler)

lilacs to the right

There's one very meek hydrangea in that back corner, but out of frame to the right is another planter with two more flourishing hydrangeas, so I am not attached to this spindly one at all.

Now I love creeping phlox -- I just discovered what it was this spring.  Would that be too flat and boring for the whole box?  It's 8' square.  Or maybe I could plant two things -- one that blooms in spring, one in summer?  I currently don't have anything in the back that's blooming right now -- the crepe myrtles are glorious right now but they are all in the front.  Actually, I take that back -- there is also a small hibiscus that's putting out a few tentative blooms, but they're not visible from the dining room.

(view from dining room, with "empty" box dead center)

I don't want anything too tall, since I don't really want whatever I plant to compete with the maple or lilac behind, which leaves out forsythia, which I also love.  (Forsythia is also a plain-looking hedge 11/12 of the year.)  Also, it HAS to be a perennial, since I know myself well enough to accept that I cannot keep up with an annual bed.  I have two pots lining the driveway in which I was supposed to keep fresh annuals, and they are a sad, sad sight.  (I'm not going to humiliate myself by posting a picture of THAT, nossir.)

So: flowering perennial(s), not too tall, shade-tolerant, possibly blooming mid-summer.  Oh, also not poisonous to children.  Important to put that in there too.

Recommendations?

Belated Spring Photodump

Picking up from the last photodump...

March

Happy First Day of Spring!

poor confused Camellias

Krazy Kitty likes the snow (it makes him much easier to spot)

tfw...

...almost all the schoolwork is done, the standardized tests have been taken, there are no more recitals/performances coming up, all summer plans and camps have been arranged, all doctor appts have been scheduled, and everyone has clothes to last the summer.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Also, I feel totally lost.  What the heck am I supposed to be doing with myself now???  It feels very unnatural to be able to sit on my deck and sip iced tea and read a novel in the middle of the morning! 

----------

So, what are we up to?  This week, blessedly not much.  This is the first week of our sort-of summer break, inasmuch as those who haven't finished all their schoolwork yet have a much lighter load, and there aren't any places that people need to be driven to (at least until the camps start).

Miriam on the piano

Here's a preview of what Miriam's going to play for her recital this Friday:

"Gardens in the Rain" by Claude Debussy (with toddler accompaniment)

Winter photodump

January

umm, don't think you fit there any more, Baby

arrr, fercious pirate kitteh wants all yer catnip

Nicky "helping" Miriam to practice

Bling!

Guess who got her ears pierced!!!

At 13, Katie finally decided she was ready to have holes drilled in her earlobes.  And look how pretty they are!

Are. You. Kidding. Me.

Happy first day of Spring, everyone!

that is actual snow. falling from the sky.

Yeesh.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Art Imitates Life

inspired by the weather this weekend

Stickz Comics, Issue #29! (by Katie)

The Family Speedcuber

Miriam got a Rubiks Speed Cube for Christmas, and she's been making good use of it:

51 seconds!!!

She spent most of Tech Week playing around with our older, stiffer Rubiks, memorizing algorithms, when all the actors were spending a lot of time sitting around waiting to rehearse.  (Because, of course, doing school work was out of the question, with all your friends around!)